Which food additives should you avoid?
Short answer
The most-contested food additives are the artificial azo colours (tartrazine E102, sunset yellow E110, allura red E129), sodium nitrite (E250) in cured meat, BHA (E320), and the artificial sweeteners aspartame (E951) and acesulfame-K (E950). All are legally approved; the disagreement is over long-term exposure, not acute safety.
The ones with the strongest case
- Sodium nitrite (E250) — forms nitrosamines in cured meat; the IARC classification of processed meat rests partly on this
- Azo colours (E102, E110, E129) — EU law requires a hyperactivity warning label on foods containing them
- BHA (E320) — listed by IARC as possibly carcinogenic to humans
The genuinely contested ones
- Aspartame (E951) — IARC classified it possibly carcinogenic in 2023, while JECFA left the acceptable daily intake unchanged; both bodies looked at the same evidence
- MSG (E621) — the acute 'Chinese restaurant syndrome' claim has not held up in controlled trials, though some people do report sensitivity
- Sodium benzoate (E211) — can form benzene with vitamin C under heat and light, which is a formulation problem rather than an inherent one
The more useful question
Additives cluster. A product with three artificial colours and two preservatives is almost always ultra-processed, and the processing is a larger signal than any single E-number. That is why Olive Detective weights additive load together with NOVA group rather than treating individual additives as verdicts.
More answers
Keep reading
Last updated 26 August 2026.
Start eating cleaner today.
Your next grocery run is the perfect time to try it. Scan a few things — free for 7 days.
7-day free trial · cancel anytime.